Friday, December 26, 2014

If you were to come by for a visit you'd be welcomed by a pretty succulent wreath on our door. I snagged the wreath at 75 % off (less than $5 ) at Michael's and for that cheap I really had to give my crazy idea a go. I had seen the wreath and passed on it. I felt like it needed something. It had a few empty spots and I thought, i could put succulents there! So the next day i bought the wreath and got to work. I cut succulents from my garden and I poked each stem with a long wire through the bottom and twisted it into place on the wreath. I think I just started a new Christmas decor tradition for us! The plants are still alive and I'm going to add them to my succulent pallet right after New Years :)

And now you get a little peek at our little home all dolled up for Christmas :)

You remember we moved a few months ago? We were in between packing the house, leaving the house for viewings and looking for a house and it was chaos. It was exciting. it was frustrating. it was prayer and patience. and it was falling in love all over again with a new place.

although we knew we weren't going to buy a "new" home. we fell in love with our new old ( new to us ) home. you ever get that feeling about a place? you just "know" if you love it or don't. I'm like that. our last place i KNEW it was for us. the same thing with this place.

( More succulents. of course! lol! )

An older lady lived in this house for over 40 years. I lovingly refer to it as our old lady house :) I love her taste and her not adding too much to this place. Because that means we get to change it just the way we like. it's such a foreign concept to us since we lived in our condo for 5 years and weren't allowed to do too much to the space.

So a little bit at a time we are making changes. You ready for a before picture? say yes! ;)

This picture was from the agents listing. We viewed the house and this is what we saw. I LOVED IT! hahaaa! They always say to not look at the current state but at the potential. And I knew we had done it before with our condo and I knew we could add our charm to this place too. I'm like, can i keep that sofa and pillow?! but that carpet has got to go. you know?

So the first thing to go was the carpet.

The Mr. pulled up the ugly red/orange shaggy carpet and discovered this beautiful flooring!

To say we were beyond thrilled is a bit of an understatement. We kept asking ourselves, "Who puts this ugly carpet over this beautiful flooring?!" But you know what? I'm thankful she did. It preserved the flooring just beautifully. Real wood flooring! We put IKEA laminate in our last home and expected to do the same here but yay! we saved the money by just yanking that ugly carpet out :)

The house comes with built in shelves in the living room. XO dream come true XO

We've yet to unpack our library of books because we want to paint the shelves white. Of course that's on a really looooong list of things to do and another before & after pic for sure.

So our first Christmas in our first house. it's such a special thing for us. Just 2 months ago it seemed it was not going to be possible and to be here now is such an overwhelming feeling of JOY. I couldn't let Christmas pass without decorating :) I'm thankful for this small little space we now get to call home.

I might have over done it on the trees though ;P

The Mr. was like no tree this year and I'm like how bout 100 little trees?! lol! sounds like a deal to me. and little r loved it. I hope your Christmas was beautiful & filled with love. Out of all the things/gifts I am most thankful for love & for blessings that far outreach our expectations. Without it I am sure this house would just feel empty. May you be filled with love & joy friends.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

I love cranking up the music and baking for my family & friends. and for me. ;) I would have to admit that I bake more when I'm stressed. Especially during handmade market season. I was procrastinating instead of packaging product I was like,"What did you say Mr.?! You want a double batch of cookies?! You got it!" He's like shaking his head, no. hahaaa!

But that's what I do and I secretly think my family appreciates all the stress baking.

I was asked by my friends at Mollie Makes magazine to share a bit about packaging the "goods" and I happily obliged :) Because you and I KNOW that the Packaging is as important as the tasty treats. Am i right? oh yeah. ;)

And if you're a crafty gal like me then you probably already have these. Stamps + glitter + stickers. And you see that photo of my guys? I had to include that in the shot because well it was their first tuxedo fitting and they were just hotties & my favorite photo of them thus far. Totally distracting ;) Anyhoo, if you aren't much of a baker no problems. I sometimes bake like My diva "Little Debbie snacks " or a box of donuts or pick your fav treat and you have a perfect gift. I really don't know anyone who doesn't like desserts or gifts. And i never want to either. just for the record. lol! not kidding. ;)

I baked these cute mini cupcakes and oatmeal cookies. I kept getting frosting all over my fingers as I styled the shots and totally ate them afterward. I figured in girl math they added up to one cupcake. and i like that kinda math :)

Do you have cards? I used these small project life sized cards I designed last year to doll up this pretty package. (tags + glassine bags + mini wooden clothespins + sequins via Inspire Lovely etsy)

bag it + box it = they'll love it

Some of my favorite embellishments were christmas ornaments that can be used even after the baked goods have disappeared. Above i included a snowflake ornament XOXO

Stamp tags and add a bit of glitter polka dots using glue & glitter for texture. I love that they look so simple but definitely add interest and festive cheer. I added more glittery snowflakes + mini trees & deer and used paper punches to layer up the embellishments. I love using simple glue dots to adhere all the pieces together and for the finishing touch I add a mini glittery clothespin ( via Inspire Lovely Etsy )

Here's a close up picture of the handmade glittery polka tags XOXO

oh glitter. you are SO pretty ! The best compliment is when you hear someone say they don't want to open your gift because it's too pretty. So sweet.

And my last inspiration wall photo from our old studio. Mini trees forever! lol! Do you think I have enough?! I used framed art I made last year. I punched shapes out of black cardstock and simply adhered them to the wall with glue dots. Gotta work with what you have right? So happy. Happy to bake + happy when I give stuff I love to people i love.

I wish you a stressless Christmas loves. And if you are stressed, bake. jk.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Do you have an advent calendar? I've never done one but this year, my friends at my favorite magazine Mollie Makes challenged me to create one using envelopes. The full tutorial was featured in their magazine i believe issue 46.

So here is my first one! Is this bright enough? ;) jk It was a bit of an intimidating project to begin since I designed 13 out of the 25 papers for the envelopes. It was really hard finding christmas paper in the summer! lol!

I gathered my supplies at the start of the project and when I went to shoot the final wall with the advent envelopes i saw this sitting on my desk. Isn't it pretty? I found the tray at a thrift store for $1 :) Gosh I love a good find.

My favorite envelope is #14: Its a piece of paper my little r drew on with a marker last year. I've kept it up on my inspiration wall ever since and when I went looking around for papers I looked up and thought +perfect+.

Remember this:

I know its a bit abstract but my intention was including something he made in the advent calendar. And I know he's only 3 but he's not much into scrapbooking ;) lol! So this is as close to scrapbooking as it gets for him and I'm happy XO

My little guy turned 3 on the 10th of December and I visually wanted to give him a marker for his birthday so i put our first picture together on envelope #10. I had just given birth and even though we were both so tired + this photo is super blurry i just love it so. And we haven't slept in since that day lol!!! So much to be thankful for, thats my focus for this advent. Not focusing on presents. Not focusing on the cost of things. Spending meaningful time together. Making new traditions, like going out for a drive around our new neighborhood to see lights + mexican hot chocolate with huge marshmallows + fresh yummy cookies. Oh so good! We're planning on giving back this season in our neighborhood, family & friends XO even after Christmas is over. I hope your days are bright & merry. Any fun traditions you'd like to share? Let me know, we are on the hunt for some fun :)

Thursday, December 18, 2014

I've never been one to be a great blogger but geez, I haven't seen you in over a month! We have moved and slowly making this very old house our home. She has her quirks. We've met several plumbers and electricians in the month that we've been here. I will share a post on a few house updates soon, there's just too much to share I'm also a sucker for really good before & after shots :)

For now, happy almost Christmas!!!

I've been ready for this season, not so much ready for the cold but hey, I'll take it when I have huge sweaters & blankets to keep me warm :) I hope you are well and enjoying everything good that winter has to offer.

We also have 7 new stamps! We sold out of the Christmas stamps so I don't have any festive stamps to share :( I just need to remember to make more next year I guess :) The good news is that now through the rest of this week every stamp order will ship with a set of free tags! ( 20 tags ) Its the perfect pairing XO Also, our stamps are made to fit on all the tags available in the shop, for easy crafting XOXO

I've been really aiming at sending more handmade love & notes to my family & friends, even to customers through our packaging. I'm letting go of things I've had for months, years even, and slowly giving them away hoping they will be cherished and used. This obviously has been tough since I have a lot of stuff. Both for personal crafting and for the shop. I do love it all. And yet, I haven't used it in the last 2-3 years. So I've been packaging it up, stamp a tag with one of the new stamps + send it off.

Guess what? I feel a bit lighter :) And happier, giving is so much better than holding on to stuff that sadly doesn't get used. It only took moving 30 + boxes to realize that lol!

I've also been going over our inventory and I love it all... but not all the room it takes up. SOoooooo I've decided to discontinue over 80% of our pretty ribbons and have reduced the prices to $1 a bundle

(3 yards). I'm delighted to share a good deal with you, so happy packaging lovely. I hope you get some pretty ribbons :) Sigh... don't they look pretty all bundled up? XOXO

And to finish off the deals... I'm discontinuing all the bakers twine from the shop minus 3-5 colors. So if you'd like to purchase colorful pretty twine on a wooden spool (10 yards for $1.25) head on over to the shop and grab yourself a few spools.

Well, back to the grind for all of us I guess :) Just remember to take a few moments for yourself and give yourself a break XO